Assay of beta-hematin formation by malaria parasite

Novel leads are urgently required for designing antimalarials due to the re duced efficacy of presently available drugs. The malaria parasite has a uni que reaction of heme polymerization, which has attracted much attention in the recent past as a target for the design of antimalarial drugs. The proce ss is hampered by non-availability of a proper assay method. Currently avai lable methods are cumbersome and require advanced instrumentation or radioa ctive substrates. Here, we are describing an assay for hemozoin formation t hat is simple and reproducible. This assay has routinely been used by us fo r the identification of potential compounds with antimalarial activity. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.